911 Calls Improve With Techonology

Published December 29th, 2012

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GAINESVILLE - It's called AVL and it stands for Automatic Vehicle Location. It's a global positioning system that was recently built into all of the fire trucks, ambulances and police cars in Alachua county. AVL allows the communications center to see where their dispatched officials are, all the time.

Each officer has a GPS unit mounted on their car or their computer. The computer is on a network that allows it to stay connected with the sheriff's office, gainesville police department and fire rescue. Art Forgey, the spokesperson for the Alachua County Sheriff's Office says Alachua county is one of the few with this type of technology.

"As far as communication goes, the people of Alachua County have one of the most advanced communication centers that there are. There's a lot of technology, here that allows them to locate people quickly in an emergency," Forgey says.

The system can even locate the coordinates of cell phone callers that may not know their address or location. While the center receives about 12 to 1,400 calls every 24 hours. with this new system it's easier to manage calls they tell me.

Forgey also says the system allows them to tell callers how close or far an official is from their location, offering callers reassurance. Tune in tonight at 11pm as I tell you more about the AVL system and talk to the people answering the phones at the Alachua County Communication Center.